TEE CONFIRMATION TEST FOR ENGLISH CHURCHMANSHIP.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Your note to Mr. Whitham's letter is interesting. May I ask where you find that (1) Notorious evil living and (2) being guilty of depraving the Royal Supremacy are the only essential obstacles to baptised persons receiving the Communion P (1) is, of course, from the rubrics; but where does (2) come from, unless it be from the second Canon of 1604? But if this is its source, then what of Canons 10 and 11 P And if you do not allow the authority of these Canons, then what are the Canons which you refer to which have the force of law P—I
[Canon 27 states that no minister shall wittingly administer the Sacrament " to any that have spoken against and depraved His Majesty's Sovereign Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical." Canons 10 and 11 are respectively headed "Maintainers of Schis- matics in the Church of England censured " and " Maintainers of Conventicles censured." We fully admit that an appeal to the Canons Ecclesiastical proves, on closer survey, a double- edged weapon. The Canons fire impartial broadsides into both sets of disputants in this controveray.—En. Spectator.]
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